Such a shifting device is described, for example, in DE 38 07 881 C2. It combines in it the advantage of the shifting of a conventional automatic transmission with those of a transmission to be shifted manually. By pivoting a selector lever, which is mounted pivotably on a gear shifting gate, different automatically shiftable gears, e.g., “P,” “R,” “N,” “D,”, “3,” “2” and “1” can be preset in a first shift gate. Via a cross gate, the selector lever is shifted over from the first shift gate into a second shift gate, in which individual, manually shiftable gears are preset, e.g., a first gear, a second gear, a third gear and a fourth gear, i.e., the forward gears. The shifting of the manually shiftable gears in the second shift gate is performed by pivoting the selector lever in two opposite directions, e.g., the direction of travel and the direction opposite the direction of travel, as a result of which a plus sensor and a minus sensor respond, which initiate an upshifting or downshifting of the manual gears.
Shifting between defined gears in the first shift gate is usually prevented in such shifting devices by a lock, which can be overcome by actuating an actuating element. For example, shifting from the gear “P” into the gear “R” is possible only by actuating the actuating element simultaneously with the application of the brake. The actuating element is usually a pushbutton at the knob of the selector lever. Shifting from “P” to “R,” from “R” to “P” and from “N” to “R” usually also requires the actuation of an actuating element to overcome the shift lock.
If the automatic shifting device is a shifting device with an additional tip shifting function (manual shifting or Tiptronic), the selector lever is usually pivoted from the gear “D” via the cross gate into the second shift gate, where the individual gears can be selected manually by tapping or pivoting the selector lever in the “+” and “−” directions. The selector lever, which is mounted pivotably on the gear shift gate for selecting the individual gears in the two gates, is pivoted together with the gear shift gate during the shifting from the first shift gate into the second shift gate. The shift locks referred to above are usually seated on the gear shift gate, because they are to block the pivoting of the selector lever on the gear shift gate. If additional gears, which can be selected only after overcoming the shift lock, are provided after the gear “D,” the movement of the selector lever in the second shift gate is thus also blocked in one of the two directions for selecting the manually shiftable gates. However, this is not desirable, because no shift locks shall be provided precisely during the manual shifting, and the manual shifting shall be made possible by a slight tapping or pivoting of the selector lever.